Ghost Pirates Slot Review: NetEnt's Eerie Pirate Themed Masterpiece

Compared to some of the earlier pirate themed slots you’ll find online, Ghost Pirates has a dark feel. The creaking of the ship and wind effects are just the audio side! On the reels, the pirates look undead. If you have seen the pirates of the Caribbean movies, there will be more than an air of familiarity. Overall, the production is amazing. NetEnt have put many slot software providers to shame with their mix of detailed graphics and eerie atmosphere.

At first sight, this slot looks complex. In fact, it is one of the more straightforward games in the Net Entertainment range. Unusually, you get to select how many reels are involved in the ‘all-ways’ play. There is a free spins bonus game, which has a different background to the main reels. The treasure you will see here is appropriate. This is because all wins are tripled while the free spins are in play.

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Choice of All-Ways Setups: How Ghost Pirate’s Works

To the left of the spin button, you’ll find a series of 5 green circles with ‘Bet Ways’ above. This determines how many reels you include in the ‘all-ways’ system.

For those not yet familiar with all-ways, this means that no win-lines are used. Any 3+ consecutive symbols from the left trigger a win. With all 5 reels in view, this gives you 243 ways to win. The other buttons say, 2, 9, 27 and 81. These are the possible winning combos with1, 2, 3 and 4 reels in play. When you select one of these options, the top and bottom symbols on the unselected reels do dark. These are no longer counted for your wins.

You will bet at a fixed price, which will go down as you deselect reels. My personal view is to stick with 243 ways and reduce my stake (coin value) to match my current bankroll. If you want to bet more, then the ‘bet level’ to the right of that spin button is a multiplier.

Line Up Ghost Pirates for Big Wins

Some of these wins might seem on the smaller side. Keep in mind with the all-ways system in place, you’ll often hit multiple wins from the same spin.

The top regular line prize comes via your captain, Peggy Rotten. Like all the main symbols, you will see her name underneath her portrait on the reels. This symbol is worth 1500 coins for 5 of a kind. Next comes One-eyed Ed at 1000 coins for 5, then Mad Monkey (who is a monkey, this is not the name of a pirate) at 500 and Polly at 400.

I like the filler symbols. Instead of playing cards or simple gems, pirate themed accessories have been used for your smaller wins. These include crossed pistols, a map and compass, a cannon, a gold jewel, bottle (presumably of rum) and an anchor.

Skull and Crossbones look excellent and are animated too. This is a wild symbol. It does not have a win of its own. Instead the wild will substitute for any of the regular symbols covered above, replacing them to create extra wins.

Treasure Ahoy! Scatter Symbols and Your Free Spins Bonus

Treasure chests are a common sight on pirate themed slots, though the ones on this game are even more lucrative than usual. You’ll get scatter wins (up to 50x your bet for the full 5) and trigger free spins based on how many you line up from the left. Note that instead of the total in view – this slot requires that these symbols are consecutive from the left.

Based on the 243-ways setup, you will get 25 free spins for 5, 20 for 4 and 15 for just 3 scatter symbols.

When those free spins start the eerie dark sea that is behind the reels in the base game will disappear. This gets replaced by a cave full of glittering golden treasures. You can get a glimpse of this via the semi-transparent reels when they spin.

Even better (for your bankroll at least), any wins you do hit during this free spins bonus will be tripled compared to the pay table. If you hit the top prize of 5 Peggy symbols, that is 4500 coins. For an all-ways slot, that is very high.

You can retrigger the free spins with 3+ treasure chests. The new spins are simply added to your total without interrupting the game.

Slick Production, Flames and Ghostly Pirates

This is a simple enough slot, and it is the production which makes it stand out for me. When you first see the reels, they look crowded. There are effective flickering flames of torches on the sides of the logo at the top of the reels – and bigger ones under the line marker. If you look closely at the top corners of the reels, skeleton pirates can be found.

The symbols are full of character, as well as dark. Peggy looks like the last lady you would ever want to meet at sea. My favourite is the Mad Monkey. This creature not only has a manic grin, he is holding a bomb. There are plenty of small animations on the reels. The sound effects when the reels spin and wins come in are a mixture of spooky and jarring.

Should You Hunt for Treasure with the Ghost Pirates?

Ghost Pirates from NetEnt is one of the best-looking pirate themed slots around. Under the hood it is a simple game. That will appeal to players who like the straight forward solid base game + free spins setup. Having tripled wins and repeats in the free spins certainly adds to the excitement levels.

I enjoyed this slot and will be back for another spin!

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